Connacht had blasted ahead thanks to a try from young winger O'Halloran after just 108 seconds.

They built momentum from a series of rucks and Niall O'Connor's flat pass put O'Halloran through a hole and over in the left corner.

Out-half O'Connor added a terrific conversion from out wide but Cardiff enjoyed a good spell in the home half and Parks drove a penalty over from 39 metres out.

A high tackle by Michael Paterson on Henry Fa'afili allowed O'Connor take Connacht into double figures, but the Blues were edging the battle of the breakdown and Parks soon cut the gap to 10-6.

On the half hour mark, Connacht used their reliable lineout to launch a devastating maul which drove the Blues back over their line and McCarthy was credited with the touchdown.

O'Connor added the conversion and Parks' second terrible penalty miss of the first half and a knock-on from Xavier Rush just short of the Connacht line in injury-time kept the Irish province 11 ahead at the break.

But Laulala's half-break set up Cuthbert to score Cardiff's's first try within a minute of the resumption.

After Parks added the difficult conversion, Josh Navidi's intercept put Connacht on the backfoot three minutes later and John Muldoon's botched clearance allowed Laulala to score another try.

Park' conversion meant the Blues were suddenly 20-17 ahead and while a Miah Nikora penalty brought Connacht level again, Parks replied in kind for Cardiff and then added another drop goal as the Welsh club held on to win despite late pressure from the home side.